Day 29: I’m Here

"You can't dream."

“I’m Here” is the latest short film to come out of the mind of the innovative and often overlooked filmmaker Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Where The Wild Things Are). It’s quite a shame whenever a director as ambitious as Jonze is penalized for being extremely experimental when it comes to the visual presentation of a film. That isn’t the case with Spike Jonze films, often due to the fact that two of his three films have had the screenplay written by perhaps the best screenwriter of our generation; Charlie Kaufman. The combination of Kaufman’s genius non-linear screenplays, combined with the imagination and surreal talents of Spike Jonze, have always produced movies that challenge the audience as well as entertain them. Although, “I’m Here” may be Spike’s most personal film to date.

The story takes place in modern Los Angeles where robots have learned how to live and interact with humans, having their skeleton and inability to dream being the only thing that separates them from their human counterparts. “I’m Here” revolves around an odd robot romance between the shy and sweet Sheldon (Andrew Garfield) and the free-spirited, clumsy Francesca (Sienna Guillory). The film takes a lot from other successful romantic comedies such as (500) Days Of Summer and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. But this short film stands on its own two feet and resonates a feeling of compassion that I personally haven’t felt in quite a while.

A lot of times when we feel that we’ve fallen in love, we tend to make sacrifices while in the relationship in order to sustain this feeling of compassion that we’ve grown accustomed to. We do things that are out of character and sadly we deconstruct ourselves until we are left with a shell of our old selves. All in the name of love.

This dim-light 30 minute film will not only capture your attention due to its stunning cinematography and music video sequences but it will leave you wanting more because it’s honest outlook on what drives so many of us into inevitable heartache. The measures we’ll go to keep someone close to us is used as a metaphor throughout this film and the self-destructing ways of Sheldon speak to every single romantic out there loud and clear. “I’m Here” is a reminder that love might be the one thing in life that brings all of us together but it is also the drug that can eventually leave a man or woman in pieces. In this case, it’s a librarian robot named Sheldon.